Assessment Information

Assessment Information The LOs for this module are as follows: 1. Identify and select sources of data and information 2. Analyse and present information to support decision making 3. Communicate results of information analysis and decision 4. Comprehend the range of tools and techniques available as support for managerial decision making This assignment should be completed with reference to the WM Pressings Case Study and the OIL Project, as and where directed to do so. This assignment requires you to write a 2,000-word assignment submission answering the following questions: 1. Using relevant examples from the WM Pressings Case Study & other sources, explain the difference between data and information. (20 marks) ? 2. Identify the sources of information for the quality issue at WM Pressings. Critically evaluate these sources and then select the sources that you feel will be most useful for conducting further analysis. (20 marks) ? 3. Analyse the information that you have gathered on the quality issue at WM Pressings and summarise your key findings. (20 marks) ? 4. Create a PowerPoint presentation that you will use to communicate the results of your analysis on the quality issue to the Managing Director of WM Pressings. Your presentation should be 4 – 6 slides long and should be included in your word document as a series of JPEGs (2 JPEGs per page). Do not submit the PowerPoint file (30 marks) ? 5. Using relevant examples, explain how the role of information and communication has been important in the OIL Project. (10 marks) ? WM Pressings Case Study WM Pressings1 is a manufacturing company based in Coventry in England. The company makes small pressed steel and aluminium parts for customers in the automotive industry. WM pressings has five main customers as detailed in the table below. Customer Location No of Parts Total Annual Volume of Pressings Scheller AG Munich, Germany 46 480,000 FHS Automotive Coventry, England 32 340,000 PD Cars Birmingham, England 28 300,000 Ardale Ltd London, England 18 175,000 Magmoke Lyon, France 32 120,000 The company has 10 presses and 204 dies that it runs in order to make these components. Each press can be used to manufacture a number of different components, by changing the die. Each die is unique to a particular component. The presses and dies are known within the company simply as P1 to P10 and D1 to D204. The company has been supplying pressed parts to automotive customers for over 40 years and has always prided itself on its reputation for high quality. However, in the past 2 years the company has seen its quality performance deteriorate sharply. The top ten quality issues for December 2015 are detailed in the table below (this table shows parts that have been returned to WM Pressings by their customers due to defective quality). Part Number Description Qty Manufactured Dec 2015 Qty Customer Returns AD12766 Pressing - Inner 1242 400 SD34276 Pressing 806 220 BG65609 Pressing 356 180 DF23437 Pressing - Inner 1452 155 DD23349 Pressing - Inner 3290 150 AY54232 Pressing – Door Inner 435 140 DF78903 Pressing 546 128 PY65459 Pressing Outer 3452 124 HG40092 Pressing - Cowl 980 106 DJ67642 Pressing - Inner 765 104 AA23998 Pressing 623 102 1 WM Pressings and all other companies named are entirely fictitious organizations Investigation into the Quality Issues The Managing Director of WM Pressings has asked you to investigate the issue and to identify the reasons for the issues being experienced. The first task you have undertaken is to collate the table below showing the name of the manufacturer for each of the ten parts above that were shown in the previous table on quality issues. Part Number Description Customer Component Weight (g) AD12766 Pressing - Inner Ardale Ltd 100 SD34276 Pressing PD Cars 120 BG65609 Pressing PD Cars 110 DF23437 Pressing - Inner Ardale Cars 150 DD23349 Pressing - Inner FHS Automotive 110 AY54232 Pressing – Door Inner PD Cars 150 DF78903 Pressing Ardale Cars 100 PY65459 Pressing Outer FHS Automotive 120 HG40092 Pressing - Cowl PD Cars 180 DJ67642 Pressing - Inner PD Cars 100 AA23998 Pressing PD Cars 120 Next, you have asked the warranty department for an update about any claims made once the customer vehicles were actually in service, which is summarised below. Part Number Description Customer Warranty Claims Dec 2015 AD22132 Pressing Scheller AG 18 SD34276 Pressing PD Cars 14 BG65609 Pressing PD Cars 11 AG43234 Pressing Scheller AG 7 GF48871 Pressing Scheller AG 5 AY54232 Pressing – Door Inner PD Cars 5 TR34376 Pressing – Inner Panel Scheller AG 4 SE24890 Pressing Scheller AG 4 HG40092 Pressing - Cowl PD Cars 3 DJ67642 Pressing - Inner PD Cars 2 AA23998 Pressing PD Cars 2 You have then spoken to the factory manager and asked an update about any parts that were rejected before they left the WM Pressings factory, which is summarised below Part Number Description Press ID Number Die ID Number Customer Internal Rejects Dec 2015 SF134567 Pressing Outer Panel P2 34 PD Cars 600 SD34276 Pressing P2 35 PD Cars 500 BG65609 Pressing P2 46 PD Cars 500 DS23009 Pressing - P1 190 Scheller AG 400 SL87225 Pressing - Inner P3 29 PD Cars 320 AY54232 Pressing – Door Inner P3 31 PD Cars 306 DF78903 Pressing P8 87 Ardale Cars 300 DF78904 Pressing P8 88 Ardale Cars 220 HG40092 Pressing - Cowl P2 39 PD Cars 200 DJ67642 Pressing - Inner P2 38 PD Cars 180 SD34987 Pressing P2 43 PD Cars 180 Interviews with Key Managers You decide to go to see the quality manager to find out what has been happening, the key parts of the conversation are recorded below. “What is your opinion about the issues causing customer returns?” “I realise that performance is not optimal but we are operating at a comparable level to other similar suppliers in the automotive industry”. “What are your thoughts about the warranty data?” “I do not look at the warranty data, this is not part of my remit – my job is to focus on customer returns.” “What about the issues that happen in-house, scrap that is found before it leaves the factory?” “This is the responsibility of the production manager – I do not have any influence over the production processes and maintenance programmes that he runs and which influence the quality during production”. You thank the quality manager for her time and then go to visit the maintenance supervisor. “Are you aware of the main issues that are causing internal rejects?” “No, the production manager does not tell me about this type of stuff.” “Do you have any particular issues with any of the presses or dies?” “The dies are all in good condition, however presses P2 and P3 are very old and we have to deal with many breakdowns on them.” “Do you know if these breakdowns on P2 and P3 are linked to any quality issues?” “Not as far as I am aware, we fix the presses so that they are working again, but we do not know what happens afterwards.” “Do you have any records on breakdowns for December 2015?” “No, we don’t keep a log of breakdowns.” Finally you decide to speak to one of your friends who works on the shop floor, operating one of the presses. “Are you aware of the quality issues that we have been experiencing?” “No, we don’t get told about that sort of stuff.”?“Do you experience any issues during production that may be linked to quality?” “Yes, we can see when the presses are producing parts of uncertain quantity, however when we inform management they do not take any action until the problems become very bad or the presses actually stop working altogether.” You are now satisfied that you have enough data and information about the quality problem. You now need to figure out the best way to analyse this data and information and then put it in a suitable format to be presented to the Managing Director. Criteria for Assessment This table details the weightings of the five criteria by which your work will be assessed. Criteria Proportion of overall module mark 1. Content and Learning Outcomes 75% 2. Evidence of reading, use of resources and research 15% 3. Accurate citations and referencing 5% 4. Presentation, grammar and spelling 5% Total 100% Note: 1. This assignment is neither a report or essay format. The assignment should answer each of the questions. Have an introduction to start with. Then answer each of the question. While discussing each question you can be descriptive and use graphs and tables. 2. Word count. For Q4, where you submit JPEGs, you may either consider it to be zero words or as being equivalent to 500 words. So a submission with 2200 words plus the JPEGs is OK, equally so is one with 1500 words plus the JPEGs. Hope this makes sense! References etc do not count towards word count.